Paul Broussard
Encyclopedia
Paul Broussard a 27 year-old Houston-area banker and Texas A&M alumnus, was beaten and stabbed to death in a gay-bashing outside a Houston nightclub on July 4, 1991 by ten teenaged boys. The youths had driven from the northern Houston suburb of The Woodlands
to the heavily gay area of Montrose solely to "beat up some queers," in the words of one of the convicted teens.
Montrose
neighborhood with his friends Cary Anderson and Richard Delaunay when the trio was attacked by 10 young men from the Woodlands
area: Jaime Aguirre, Javier Aguirre, Derrick Attard, Jon Buice, Chance Paul Dillon, Rafael Gonzales, Gayland Randle, Leandro Ramirez, Brian Spake, and Jeffrey Valentine.
All but three of the attackers were under 17, and the eldest of them—Chance Dillon—was 22. All except Dillon attended McCullough High School in The Woodlands
. The Woodlands, TX as they became known, had spent the two days prior to the attack binging on alcohol. Hours before the attack, they piled into two cars and cruised Montrose
harassing men they presumed to be gay
. They identified their targets by asking directions to Heaven, a popular area gay bar
and threw rocks at men who answered with directions.
Broussard and friends were just blocks away from home when the attackers asked them for directions to Heaven. Upon receiving them, the 10 attackers exited their vehicles attacked the three gay
men with fists, steel-toed boots, nail-studded two-by-fours, and a knife wielded by Jon Buice. Anderson and Delaunay escaped down a busy street, while Broussard headed down a dead end street where he was surrounded by the 10 attackers.
Delaunay said the ten young men were cheering and yelling as they attacked Broussard. Broussard suffered abrasions, puncture wounds, a broken rib, bruised testicles, and three stab wounds. As he lay on the ground, almost unconscious, two of his attackers rifled through his pockets and took a comb as a souvenir. The ten young men then drove off up I-45 towards the Woodlands
, still cheering and yelling.
Broussard was treated by EMS
at the scene, and then airlifted to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he died eight-and-a-half hours later. His mother, Nancy Rodriguez, flew into Houston
from Atlanta, Georgia
, and met with Houston police as well as with Anderson and Delaunay.
. As a result, Queer Nation
Houston organized large public protests, some of which took place in front of the mayor's house, with Nancy Rodruiguez participating. The resulting media attention led to one of the assailants' girlfriends calling the police. All ten were soon arrested.
Derrick Attard went to New York after the attack, and was arrested there. Jon Buice is reported to have turned himself in after being encouraged to do so by his father.
Derrick Attard received probation for agreeing to identify the other nine. Four more also received probation, and Nancy Rodriguez—aided by the Houston Crime Victim's Office—worked with the D.A. to set the terms. The court also ordered them to pay for Anderson's hospital bill and Broussard's funeral. Derrick Attard and Gayland Randle violated the terms of their probations and were sent to prison.
Jon Buice confessed to inflicting the stab wound that the Harris County
Medical Examiner's Office said caused Broussard's death, and received a 45-year sentence. Paul Dillon received a 20-year sentence for attempted murder
and aggravated attempted murder.
The three remaining assailants received sentences of 15-years-and-one-day, for their admitted participation in the beatings. Their sentences were criticized by Queer Nation
and Nancy Rodriguez as being too light.
Derrick Attard, Rafael Gonzales, Gayland Randle, Brian Spake, and Jeffrey Valentine also received probation and were released.
Brothers Jaime and Javier Aguirre were set to be released in January 2007, after Jaime was denied parole in 2003, and were expected to face deportation to Mexico upon release.
Leandro Ramirez was set to be released on parole in March 2007.
Jon Buice, who received longest sentence and is the last of The Woodlands, TX remaining in prison, is scheduled for a parole hearing in 2009, after having been denied parole in October 2003, October 2005, and October 2007. On July 5, 2011 the Houston Chronicle reported Buice will be released from prison on parole around October 2011.
Nancy Rodriguez currently lives near Macon, Georgia
. She has attended more than 20 parole hearings in her efforts to keep her son's assailants in prison.
and printed in the Houston Voice. Buice says he was moved to write the letter after hearing about the murder of Matthew Shepard
.
In a subsequent interview with a researcher, Buice said that he was not homophobic and had close friends and relatives who were gay
. Buice also said that the attack had less to do with Broussard's sexual orientation
than with thrill-seeking, male-bonding, peer pressure, and the influence of drugs and alcohol. Almost all of The Woodlands, TX were intoxicated that night. Some, including Jon Buice, had also used marijuana and taken LSD. Buice claimed to have "blacked out" on the night of the attack, and only remembers riding home with Broussard's blood on his clothes.
According to prison officials, Buice has a spotless prison record. He has earned associate's degrees
in business
and accounting and a bachelor's degree
in psychology
.
With his October 2007 parole request being declined, Buice was scheduled for his last prior parole hearing in 2009. His appeal has been supported by gay activist and radio host Ray Hill.
Hill, who is also an ex-convict and host of "The Prison Show" on KPFT
, has corresponded with several of The Woodlands TX, supports Buice's parole, and has said he hopes Buice will take over as host of The Prison Show upon his release.
The Houston Chronicle reported Buice will be released on parole around October 2011.
After protests from the victim's mother as well as other gay activists, The Parole Board reversed its decision and denied Jon Buice parole. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7680449.html
The Woodlands, Texas
The Woodlands is a master-planned community and a Census-designated place in the U.S. state of Texas within the metropolitan area. The population of the CDP was 55,649 at the 2000 census—a 90 percent increase over its 1990 population. According to the 2010 census, The Woodlands' population rose...
to the heavily gay area of Montrose solely to "beat up some queers," in the words of one of the convicted teens.
The attack
Paul Broussard was walking across a parking lot just after 2:00 a.m., on July 4, 1991, in Houston'sHouston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
Montrose
Montrose, Houston, Texas
Montrose is a residential neighborhood located in the Neartown area of Houston, Texas, USA. Established in 1911, the neighborhood is a demographically diverse area with renovated mansions, bungalows with wide porches, and cottages located along tree-lined boulevards...
neighborhood with his friends Cary Anderson and Richard Delaunay when the trio was attacked by 10 young men from the Woodlands
The Woodlands, Texas
The Woodlands is a master-planned community and a Census-designated place in the U.S. state of Texas within the metropolitan area. The population of the CDP was 55,649 at the 2000 census—a 90 percent increase over its 1990 population. According to the 2010 census, The Woodlands' population rose...
area: Jaime Aguirre, Javier Aguirre, Derrick Attard, Jon Buice, Chance Paul Dillon, Rafael Gonzales, Gayland Randle, Leandro Ramirez, Brian Spake, and Jeffrey Valentine.
All but three of the attackers were under 17, and the eldest of them—Chance Dillon—was 22. All except Dillon attended McCullough High School in The Woodlands
The Woodlands, Texas
The Woodlands is a master-planned community and a Census-designated place in the U.S. state of Texas within the metropolitan area. The population of the CDP was 55,649 at the 2000 census—a 90 percent increase over its 1990 population. According to the 2010 census, The Woodlands' population rose...
. The Woodlands, TX as they became known, had spent the two days prior to the attack binging on alcohol. Hours before the attack, they piled into two cars and cruised Montrose
Montrose, Houston, Texas
Montrose is a residential neighborhood located in the Neartown area of Houston, Texas, USA. Established in 1911, the neighborhood is a demographically diverse area with renovated mansions, bungalows with wide porches, and cottages located along tree-lined boulevards...
harassing men they presumed to be gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
. They identified their targets by asking directions to Heaven, a popular area gay bar
Gay bar
A gay bar is a drinking establishment that caters to an exclusively or predominantly gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender clientele; the term gay is used as a broadly inclusive concept for LGBT and queer communities...
and threw rocks at men who answered with directions.
Broussard and friends were just blocks away from home when the attackers asked them for directions to Heaven. Upon receiving them, the 10 attackers exited their vehicles attacked the three gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
men with fists, steel-toed boots, nail-studded two-by-fours, and a knife wielded by Jon Buice. Anderson and Delaunay escaped down a busy street, while Broussard headed down a dead end street where he was surrounded by the 10 attackers.
Delaunay said the ten young men were cheering and yelling as they attacked Broussard. Broussard suffered abrasions, puncture wounds, a broken rib, bruised testicles, and three stab wounds. As he lay on the ground, almost unconscious, two of his attackers rifled through his pockets and took a comb as a souvenir. The ten young men then drove off up I-45 towards the Woodlands
The Woodlands, Texas
The Woodlands is a master-planned community and a Census-designated place in the U.S. state of Texas within the metropolitan area. The population of the CDP was 55,649 at the 2000 census—a 90 percent increase over its 1990 population. According to the 2010 census, The Woodlands' population rose...
, still cheering and yelling.
Broussard was treated by EMS
Emergency medical services
Emergency medical services are a type of emergency service dedicated to providing out-of-hospital acute medical care and/or transport to definitive care, to patients with illnesses and injuries which the patient, or the medical practitioner, believes constitutes a medical emergency...
at the scene, and then airlifted to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he died eight-and-a-half hours later. His mother, Nancy Rodriguez, flew into Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
from Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, and met with Houston police as well as with Anderson and Delaunay.
Protests and arrests
Houston newspapers did not initially report Broussard's murder as a hate crimeHate crime
In crime and law, hate crimes occur when a perpetrator targets a victim because of his or her perceived membership in a certain social group, usually defined by racial group, religion, sexual orientation, disability, class, ethnicity, nationality, age, gender, gender identity, social status or...
. As a result, Queer Nation
Queer Nation
Queer Nation was an organization founded in March 1990 in New York City, USA by AIDS activists from ACT UP. The four founders were outraged at the escalation of anti-gay and lesbian violence on the streets and prejudice in the arts and media...
Houston organized large public protests, some of which took place in front of the mayor's house, with Nancy Rodruiguez participating. The resulting media attention led to one of the assailants' girlfriends calling the police. All ten were soon arrested.
Derrick Attard went to New York after the attack, and was arrested there. Jon Buice is reported to have turned himself in after being encouraged to do so by his father.
Sentencing
All ten of Broussard's assailants were eventually convicted. Activist Ray Hill lobbied the prosecutor and District attorney for "meaningful sentences" for the Woodlands TX.Derrick Attard received probation for agreeing to identify the other nine. Four more also received probation, and Nancy Rodriguez—aided by the Houston Crime Victim's Office—worked with the D.A. to set the terms. The court also ordered them to pay for Anderson's hospital bill and Broussard's funeral. Derrick Attard and Gayland Randle violated the terms of their probations and were sent to prison.
Jon Buice confessed to inflicting the stab wound that the Harris County
Harris County, Texas
As of the 2010 Census, the population of the county was 4,092,459, White Americans made up 56.6% of Harris County's population; non-Hispanic whites represented 33.0% of the population. Black Americans made up 18.9% of the population. Native Americans made up 0.7% of Harris County's population...
Medical Examiner's Office said caused Broussard's death, and received a 45-year sentence. Paul Dillon received a 20-year sentence for attempted murder
Attempted murder
Attempted murder is a crime in England and Wales and Northern Ireland.-Today:In English criminal law, attempted murder is the crime of more than merely preparing to commit unlawful killing and at the same time having a specific intention to cause the death of human being under the Queen's Peace...
and aggravated attempted murder.
The three remaining assailants received sentences of 15-years-and-one-day, for their admitted participation in the beatings. Their sentences were criticized by Queer Nation
Queer Nation
Queer Nation was an organization founded in March 1990 in New York City, USA by AIDS activists from ACT UP. The four founders were outraged at the escalation of anti-gay and lesbian violence on the streets and prejudice in the arts and media...
and Nancy Rodriguez as being too light.
Probation and release
Paul Dillon was the first of the attackers to be released, in March 2000, after serving just six years. He owed his freedom to a mandatory release law that was repealed in 1996.Derrick Attard, Rafael Gonzales, Gayland Randle, Brian Spake, and Jeffrey Valentine also received probation and were released.
Brothers Jaime and Javier Aguirre were set to be released in January 2007, after Jaime was denied parole in 2003, and were expected to face deportation to Mexico upon release.
Leandro Ramirez was set to be released on parole in March 2007.
Jon Buice, who received longest sentence and is the last of The Woodlands, TX remaining in prison, is scheduled for a parole hearing in 2009, after having been denied parole in October 2003, October 2005, and October 2007. On July 5, 2011 the Houston Chronicle reported Buice will be released from prison on parole around October 2011.
Nancy Rodriguez currently lives near Macon, Georgia
Macon, Georgia
Macon is a city located in central Georgia, US. Founded at the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is part of the Macon metropolitan area, and the county seat of Bibb County. A small portion of the city extends into Jones County. Macon is the biggest city in central Georgia...
. She has attended more than 20 parole hearings in her efforts to keep her son's assailants in prison.
Jon Buice
In April 1999, Buice wrote an open letter to the gay community apologizing and seeking to make amends for his role in Paul Broussard's murder, which was addressed to the radio station KPFTKPFT
KPFT is a listener-sponsored community radio station in Houston, Texas, which went on the air on March 1, 1970 as the fourth station in the Pacifica radio family. Larry Lee sold the idea to Pacifica to establish listener-supported radio in Houston as an alternative to main-stream broadcasting. The...
and printed in the Houston Voice. Buice says he was moved to write the letter after hearing about the murder of Matthew Shepard
Matthew Shepard
Matthew Wayne Shepard was a student at the University of Wyoming who was tortured and murdered near Laramie, Wyoming, in October 1998...
.
In a subsequent interview with a researcher, Buice said that he was not homophobic and had close friends and relatives who were gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
. Buice also said that the attack had less to do with Broussard's sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
than with thrill-seeking, male-bonding, peer pressure, and the influence of drugs and alcohol. Almost all of The Woodlands, TX were intoxicated that night. Some, including Jon Buice, had also used marijuana and taken LSD. Buice claimed to have "blacked out" on the night of the attack, and only remembers riding home with Broussard's blood on his clothes.
According to prison officials, Buice has a spotless prison record. He has earned associate's degrees
Associate's degree
An associate degree is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by community colleges, junior colleges, technical colleges, and bachelor's degree-granting colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study usually lasting two years...
in business
Business
A business is an organization engaged in the trade of goods, services, or both to consumers. Businesses are predominant in capitalist economies, where most of them are privately owned and administered to earn profit to increase the wealth of their owners. Businesses may also be not-for-profit...
and accounting and a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in psychology
Psychology
Psychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
.
With his October 2007 parole request being declined, Buice was scheduled for his last prior parole hearing in 2009. His appeal has been supported by gay activist and radio host Ray Hill.
Hill, who is also an ex-convict and host of "The Prison Show" on KPFT
KPFT
KPFT is a listener-sponsored community radio station in Houston, Texas, which went on the air on March 1, 1970 as the fourth station in the Pacifica radio family. Larry Lee sold the idea to Pacifica to establish listener-supported radio in Houston as an alternative to main-stream broadcasting. The...
, has corresponded with several of The Woodlands TX, supports Buice's parole, and has said he hopes Buice will take over as host of The Prison Show upon his release.
The Houston Chronicle reported Buice will be released on parole around October 2011.
After protests from the victim's mother as well as other gay activists, The Parole Board reversed its decision and denied Jon Buice parole. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7680449.html
See also
- Violence against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and the transgenderedViolence against gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and the transgenderedPersecution of homosexuals may occur either via legislation prohibiting homosexual acts, or by ad hoc intimidation, mobbing, assault or lynching motivated by homophobia ....
- LGBT rights in TexasLGBT rights in TexasFew rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents exist in Texas at the state level. LGBT persons in Texas face legal challenges and discrimination not experienced by non-LGBT residents.-Laws regarding same-sex sexual activity:...
External links
- Initial article in the Houston Chronicle about the Murder- Anatomy of A Gay Murder - Article about Jon Christopher Buice, convicted of killing Paul Broussard